Protecting children: More guns in schools won't keep kids safer

By Jory Steele

Special to the Mercury News

Posted:
03/15/2013 10:00:00 AM PDT

Updated:
03/17/2013 06:07:50 PM PDT

Click photo to enlarge

People hold signs at the end the Sandy Hook Ride, by a team of 26 cyclists who rode 400 miles (644 km) from Newton, Connecticut in support of common-sense solution to prevent gun violence, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington March 12, 2013. REUTERS/Gary Cameron

As the mother of a little boy, the tragic shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., late last year gave me that special pain all parents experience when they hear of violence against children. I was desperate to hold my son just a little closer, I dropped him off at preschool with tears in my eyes and I recognized anew the fragility of life.

In moments like this, we recognize that we will do whatever it takes to keep our children safe. So we must ask ourselves: What will actually keep our kids safe?

Wayne La Pierre of the National Rifle Association said that armed guards in every school will make our children safer because "the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."

Last week, a bill that was part of a package introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer was passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It would allocate even more federal resources for police in schools and the surveillance of students, and even allow National Guard troops to patrol school campuses. This is the wrong approach.

We have to ensure that our schools aren't turned into armed fortresses that feel like prisons and do not help our kids learn.

Besides, it is not at all clear that a "good guy with a gun" can prevent gun violence. There was an armed guard on duty at Columbine High School on the day of the terrible shooting there in 1999, and another one nearby who rushed to the scene.

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And we must beware the risk of unintended consequences: In the wake of Columbine, zero-tolerance policies sprang up in schools across the country with devastating consequences for our children. The number of police officers working in schools soared and, at the same time, suspensions, expulsions and arrests of all students, especially students of color, skyrocketed. In California last year, more students were suspended than graduated from high school.

Yet children are still safer at school than in any other place, including, unfortunately, their homes. Less than 2 percent of gun violence against children occurs at school.

Schools must implement policies that make their students feel welcome, safe and excited to learn, instead of buying into the false promise of hiring more armed police.

Safe schools are created when teachers think of discipline as an opportunity for teaching, rather than simply punishment. When teachers build positive relationships with their students, the children feel a sense of belonging and want to do the right thing.

Discipline strategies such as restorative justice and support for positive behavior teach students responsibility for their actions, while keeping them engaged in school, facilitating the positive relationships that make schools safer.

We must also provide mental health counselors to our students. Police officers are often asked to fill this role, yet school police are ill-equipped to work with students: Only two states -- Connecticut and Illinois -- provide new officers with training on adolescent development and psychology.

As parents, teachers and lawmakers, our highest duty is to protect our children and provide opportunities for them to learn, grow and thrive -- something Denver school officials recognized last month when they agreed to limit the use of law enforcement in that city's schools.

Let us work together in California to craft similarly sane policies.

Jory Steele is director of education equity for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. She wrote this for this newspaper.